Ereshkigal
by moosegirl13
Summary: She knew she was Fate's favorite punching bag when she ended up in 14th century BCE Anatolia. Now, she must decide which path she must take in order to find out where she truly belongs. Red River xover. Kag/?
1. Prologue

She knew she was Fate's favorite punching bag when she ended up in 14th century BCE Anatolia. Now, she must decide which path she must take in order to find out where she truly belongs. Red River xover.

**Ereshkigal**

Prologue:

For three years, she led a double life. One of which only she could fully comprehend. Being fifteen at the time when she first fell down the ancient well on the shrine grounds her family owned, she did not grasp the full knowledge of what it meant to live in history. Along with everything in life, there were rules that had to be followed. The constant struggle of knowing she could do nothing for some people without changing her future and **wanting** to help them tore repeatedly through her heart many times. She had the power, but it came with great consequence. At times, she felt like a betrayer; personally responsible for the lives she couldn't save.

Strangers called her selfless. If they only knew. No human, no matter how pure, could ever be truly as altruistic as they proclaimed her to be. No, there was an ongoing war between her mind and her heart. And though at times it seemed her heart was worn on her sleeve for the world to see, it was her mind that was winning.

She was only human.

She had her own wants, her own dreams. She loved and she hated. And yet, they made her out to be some kind of goddess in a human form. They made her seem so…perfect. When she thought of it, of all the things people thought her to be, her heart bled a little more. But it wasn't enough. Far too attached to her own life, she knew, deep down, that she wouldn't risk it if it meant that it would change the future for the worse. She wondered constantly if anyone could ever relate to her. If they, too, had to live with the burden of hiding whom he or she really was, and how he or she really felt. It was enough to make her scream in frustration and anger and sorrow.

How much she wished that she was that perfect goddess they made her out to be! She was so tired of the game "pretend". In both of her eras, Heisei and Sengoku Jidai, nobody suspected the raging emotions that were consuming her mind little-by-little since she broke that beautifully cursed jewel. She knew that keeping her emotions at bay where no one would be able to notice, no matter how keen the eye or how wise the creature, was a foolish thing to do. But still, it seemed to her that all her problems, all her selfish wishes and the things that ultimately made her human, were too small in comparison to those around her. She knew of their wants and needs, the wanting to exact revenge for fallen comrades and family alike against the vile monster known as Narakuhad consumed her group. She figured that it was these kinds of desires, ones that could be considered both selfish and not, that rose up before her own.

Too many times she had experienced what was only natural for her to experience. Too many times she stood like a board, stiff and too afraid to journey out on the battlefield to help those who were most precious to her. But, there were also times when all sense of fear had all but vanished. It would leave her feeling numb, but it was a numbness that made her feel like she could conquer the world; and in the heat of battle, arrogance can often lead to fatal mistakes. And in one such incidence, her mistake had been somebody else's fatality.

So she ran.

She ran from everything that had decided who she was. She ran from the disappointment she knew lingered around those she cared for; she didn't want to see the expressions on their faces. She ran from all the lies that she faced about herself.

When her feet had carried her to the well that forced her into an adventure that would be long forgotten in the era she was born into, her feudal fairytale, she couldn't help but think of a second chance, a blank slate-like life where she could completely start over. Everything could be so much better! And while not realizing that the complete Shikon no Tama laid in her clenched fists, obviously momentarily forgotten by its guardian, her heart made the wish for her. Suddenly, flashes of light consumed her vision. Reds, blues, and yellows swam before her at lightning speed, making her dizzy. Then just as the lights appeared, they dimmed and everything went black.

X-x-X

A/N: My new story. What do you guys think so far. I know it's probably confusing right now, but it's supposed to be that way. No worries. Everything will be explained sooner or later. I'm going to try my best at romance for this one... I'm not all that good with "mushy stuff". Anyway, I'd be very happy if you reviewed!

P.S. Flamers beware! If you try to bring me down, I won't be going alone.


	2. Chapter One

Chapter One

The high noon sun burned white above her head, drenching the land below it in a heat so hot that it made Kagome feel as if she were going to shrivel underneath it. Stretching for miles --as far as her eyes could see-- was nothing but sand, rocks, and more sand. Everything blurred around her, making it literally possible for her to see the heat in the air. The cursed jewel was still clasped tightly in her hand. To her, it felt the same; the same roundness, the same smoothness, the same in every physical way. But, she somehow knew it was different. The life within it, the life that made it both good and evil, was gone. It was like it had never been the jewel Kagome knew it was, the jewel so many creatures fought and died for.

Was it the reason why she was in this forsaken desert?

She didn't doubt it. How could she when the proof of it burned her eyes and made her skin sweat? Already she could see the reddened rashes forming on her arms and new that soon blisters would form if she didn't find adequate shelter. Sighing heavily, she figured she better start walking in some direction if she were to have even the slightest chance of getting out of this hell. Why the jewel planted her here of all places and not some place more...civilized…she'd never know. So she started walking, fallowing the sun's slow and painful descent in the sky.

-.-

It seemed like hours since she started her journey to nowhere, but, when she looked up, the sun had barely moved. Her jeans constantly chafed her thighs, and she knew that they, too, would be red in irritation. Perhaps going off randomly in search of shelter was a bad thing to do, especially when she had no idea of where she was. Though, she supposed, staying rooted to one spot would have undoubtedly led to her death as well. How long would it take for her to fall dead in the sand? She prayed that before that happened the gods would be merciful and grant her a reprieve.

Squinting her eyes to see if she could see anything new --a tree, maybe--, Kagome's eyelids felt as if sandpaper had gone over them. It was difficult to move them without causing discomfort. It seemed that years of fighting for survival had not prepared her for the hash conditions that were so different from her home. She wanted to laugh at it all. She wanted to laugh and cry at the injustice and the wretchedness of it all.

Why put her here? Why make her fight again?

Kagome, for a split second, allowed self-pity to consume her thoughts. She hated this! She hated feeling so damn tired all the time; hated feeling so miserable. But most of all,

Kagome hated feeling weak. And in the sun's brutal rays, she felt weak. Her hands clenched, and she was once again reminded that the jewel still lay silently in her one hand. She wanted to throw the stupid marble as far as it could go, to forget about it and find her own way home. Who would miss something that had no power or no promise? Who would know it was even there, buried deeply within the course sand? No one, that's who. No creature on the earth could possibly miss something they had no clue even existed.

But when she opened her hand and she saw the jewel glisten in the daylight, she knew she couldn't. For as much as she wanted to forget it, to toss it away from her physically and mentally, she also wanted to keep it with her. After all that it had been through, after all she had been through, throwing it away was something she just couldn't do. It held too many memories of a past that know one but she would fully remember. The jewel was proof that the life she led for the past three years was not a lie. Throwing it away, to her, would be like throwing away everything that occurred in those last years.

So she pocketed the item that had somehow come to represent her life and self in so many more ways than she ever imagined. She continued walking.

-.-

It had been earlier that evening, the time when the sun had just fallen from the sky and the moon rose to its place within the constellation of stars, when him and his family found her, curled up on the ground and half alive. It was his second wife who saw it her duty to help the poor, strange woman who, by all means, looked to be from a different world. So they unpacked their belongings and set up camp, taking her into their care.

When the young woman finally woke, she was startled by their presence and had asked them a question that left them all unable to answer. But as she began to settle down and accept the little water and food they offered, they saw the gratefulness in her unusual sky-colored eyes. Their good ways weren't wasted. When she fell back to sleep under the watchful eye of the head of the family, and when her terrors leaked out into the living world, the old man wondered not for the first time who this woman was. And though he knew for a fact that she meant no harm, a feeling of unease crept up to his mind. Never in all of his travels did he hear the tongue she spoke.

"_Forgive me. Please, I didn't mean to. I…"_, the faint whispers broke free from sunburned, cracked, and bleeding lips. They parted again, _"I'm sorry. I'm sorry"_.

The utter amount of raw pain was not unfelt by the aging man who otherwise sat in still silence next to the woman who slept close to the fire on the wool blanket gifted to her. Movement to the side of him made him turn his head to look at his youngest wife, the one who cared for the girl. She sat next to him and gave him a small smile in greeting. To him, she was the perfect wife. She devoted herself to him and was a kind and strict mother to his children no matter if they came from her womb or not.

"What keeps you from sleep, husband?"

He sighed and looked away from her so that his gaze once more landed on the strange woman. "It is… difficult for me to understand the struggles of my heart and mind." The old man saw his wife's eyes widen, but he ignored it for now. It wasn't everyday that he let himself speak so freely. "She is different; too different for this world. She speaks a language I have never heard before and wears clothing unfit for a woman to wear."

There was a long pause as both husband and wife listened as the young woman's night terrors flowed from her lips. It really was as if she was from a different world.

At last, the aging man spoke again. "I think she was sent here by the gods."

X-x-X

Please review...


	3. Chapter Two

**For my best friend: Brent. I wish you the best of luck in dealing with the many hurdles that you will face. I'll miss you!**

Chapter Two

It was unnerving to watch as the little boy, probably no older than seven, continued to stare at her as if she was the first person he ever laid eyes on. Obviously that wasn't at all true judging from the fact that the rest of the family --all nine of them-- were close by. He made no attempt to strengthen the relationship between her and himself, nor did he try to weaken it more than it already was. Out of every single person in the family, it was he who found it the most difficult to accept her.

He went by the name of Asu, and he was beautiful. He had his mother's dark brown hair and his father's kind and wise grey eyes. But, those eyes now only shone with a silent fear and judgment only for her. She didn't blame him. She was, after all, a stranger taking refuge within his own family.

"_Is there something I can help you with?"_

The boy jumped a bit at the unexpected sound of her voice. Kagome knew he didn't understand her, but it made the tension die down some. He didn't respond, just turned his eyes away from her gaze and focused on something else. Asu, beautiful and shy Asu, was a lamb lost within his own flock. In Kagome's eyes, she saw the weight of the world pressing hard against his shoulders. It was as if he wanted to cry, but just couldn't. She saw the longing in wanting to be a part of his older brothers' games and the praise from his beloved father.

"Asu."His eyes fell mightily onto hers again, and this time she smiled. Shifting so that she stood from where she was sitting beside the tent, the long fabric of her skirt --another gift given to her-- lifting with her movements and trailing on the hard ground beneath her feet, Kagome made her way to the boy on the opposite side of camp. He hesitated, but shifted over for her to sit beside him. His cheeks flamed and his gaze once again found something else to focus on.

Kagome's smile widened at the sight. She touched his shoulder lightly to bring his attention back to her. When he did, she asked a simple one-word question that she had come to understand through her short stay with the family of nomads.

"Alright?"

Asu looked startled by the question before his blush deepened. Briefly, Kagome felt the stares from the rest of his family land on her and the child next to her. She assumed that they were just as shocked that she had spoken to Asu as Asu had been himself, or that she spoke the question in their own language. The camp had fallen into a hushed silence that made it feel eerie even with the hot afternoon sun blazing above them.

The boy said and did nothing that gave an answer to her question. Her smile found it hard to stay up, but she wouldn't give up so easily on talking to him. Without batting an eyelash, Kagome pointed a finger towards Asu and said his name. Then, with the same finger, she pointed to herself.

"Kagome," she began to ask, "_friends?_"

He looked at her in confusion, not knowing what she meant. Gifting him with her name was obvious, but Asu didn't understand the meaning behind it. Suddenly, her hand grasped his, but he had no desire to pull it away from hers. Under the watchful eyes of his family, she shuffled through the tiny sack hanging from her waist and pulled out a gem that none of them had ever seen before. Asu's eyes widened when she presented it to him, letting him touch it. But just as he went to grab it from her out of child's curiosity, she drew it back to herself and let go of his hand.

Kagome looked down at the Shikon with such a mixture of emotions that she wasn't sure what to feel first, or which one was the strongest. Was there no way that the jewel could live again and be her ticket home? What happened to her decision in keeping it for the memory of those she cherished with all her being, and then left with no word? Her fingers tightened around the jewel, a white-knuckled grip that had her hand aching in mere moments due to the pressure.

Or perhaps, as Kagome looked from the jewel to Asu, she kept it because of something else… or someone else. All that the jewel was now was a pretty trinket. Nothing more; at least, not compared to what it once was. It had no more power. Its value to her did not lie within it, but within her heart.

Decision made, Kagome grabbed a heavy stone near her feet, laid the jewel on the ground, and proceeded to crack it until in broke in two jagged, uneven pieces. This, she thought, would be her gift to this boy who reminded her so much of herself. The action was not done out of pity, but rather a sign of everything the jewel had represented to her in the past: chaos, betrayal, love, friendship, and family. Once again, Kagome presented it to the boy sitting anxiously by her side, only this time it was only half.

He looked at it confused, but took it nonetheless. When his eyes focused back on Kagome, she held up her half and placed it back inside the small sack tied to her waist. This was a gift given to him? It sure seemed like it to him. Asu looked across the camp to his family, and saw his mother and aging father smile at him.

"It is a beautiful gift, my son." His mother's words rang in his ears and his heart felt like soaring with the birds.

-.-

From the dry, harsh desert -- where it was only her and the family of nomads she now called friend -- to the calm sea, Kagome was overwhelmed by the sheer number of people residing in the port city. It was one group, however, who caught Kagome's eye and made the color of her face drain to a ghostly-white.

Their clothes, bronze-colored skin, eye makeup, and black wigs gave her absolute proof as to where she was and, roughly, what time she was in. Five hundred years in ancient Japan was nothing when compared to this.

A/N: I know you guys wanted a longer chapter, but this will have to do for now. My mother has been in and out of the hospital for the past month, so family is more important right now. I also started school again.

Anyway, do you guys/gals have any guesses as to where Kagome is? I'll give cookies to those who guess it right (specific location). Next chapter will introduce Red River characters! Finally, I know!

Thanks to all who reviewed:

C.A.Q

The Spiked Dragon

chibi-dono15

xXMistressMadHatterXx

Sacred Sakura

Baran3

Kakashixangela

IcedLilith

FourShotChild

And whoever I missed. Also, thanks for all the favorites and story alerts. Makes me very happy! And for those who are wondering, Yuri is going to be in this story. The character "Asu" is mine. Please ask me if you want to use him in your fic before you actually do!

PLEASE REVIEW! Thanks.


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